I march through the restaurant ignoring the come-fuck-me looks I’m getting from the women to my right. Months ago, I would have flashed them my signature smile. The stunning redhead in the corner would have grabbed my attention and eventually made her way into my bed. Today, I have zero interest in seducing strangers.
I smile briefly at the hostess as she takes my coat. That’s all I can manage these days.
Jack and Danny are already seated at the table, laughing at some private joke. They stop laughing abruptly when they see me, and their expressions become serious.
“Don’t stop on my account,” I mutter dryly, taking the third seat. “Just because my life is all shades of shit right now doesn’t mean you two have to be miserable bastards as well.”
“You look rough, mate,” Danny says cautiously. “You need to look after yourself.”
“Thanks.” I slump into my seat. “I haven’t slept in five days.”
Jack pushes a Scotch my way. “We thought you would need it.”
“You thought right.” I bring the glass to my lips and sink most of it in a few gulps. The burning sensation on my throat gives me mild relief.
They exchange looks.
“Don’t fucking start,” I growl at them, running my hand through my hair.
Jack puts his hands up in defence.
“Any news?” Danny asks tentatively. “Have you seen Daniel?”
“I’ve only seen him once,” I say, doing my best to manage my tone. “Gemina’s holding off access.” I knock back the final dregs of my Scotch and nod to the bartender for the same again. “He’s fine though,” I say softly. “He’s enjoying being the centre of attention and having time off school.” I shake my head letting out a bitter laugh. “I’m going to murder him when he’s old enough to understand the drama he’s caused. I thought I raised him to be smarter than that.”
Danny laughs dryly. ‘Like you, he refuses to eat bread after its sell-by date. Yet he is curious enough to overdose on pills he found in a bag.”
Jack smirks. “I’d rather take pills than eat some of the wacky canapes Tristan offers at parties.” He cocks a brow. “Too early to joke?”
“Too early,” I warn them. The bartender barely sets down my fresh Scotch and I lift it. “Gemina wants to see me this evening. A proposition, apparently.”
“Do you have any idea what?” Jack asks.
I blow air into my cheeks. “Who the fuck knows, I’m sure nothing good for me.”
We fall into silence as they exchange glances between them.
“Just ask,” I snap.
“Have you spoken to Elly?” Jack asks.
“No.” I scowl. “I haven’t spoken to her in five days, not since the hospital.”
“It was an accident,” Danny says carefully. “You can’t blame Elly. She didn’t mean for this to happen.”
I run both hands through my hair. “I’m furious with her,” I snap. “It’s my own damn fault for going out with a twenty-five-year-old. No sense of responsibility. Bringing unprescribed pills into my house with my son there.”
Danny leans in. “You’ll get through this but don’t throw away something amazing. You haven’t liked a woman like this in ten years. Not since…”
“Not since Gemina? Really? You’re going there?” I glare at him and down the last of my Scotch. He’ll understand when he has children what it’s like to have a child in danger. The dull chest pain that has been plaguing me all week returns. My doctor tells me I’m stressed.
“I gotta go. I have to fix this. Whatever the hell Gemina wants from me, it’s a yes.”
***
Half an hour later, George pulls up outside Gemina’s mansion. I’m used to collecting Daniel here. Often he runs straight out as soon as I pull up, and I don’t have to get out of the car.
Not today, though. Today I would have to get out and grovel, kiss her feet, give her a blank chequebook or whatever the hell she wants me to do. Both of them. So if I have to play their game, that’s what I’ll do. The alternative was losing Daniel, and that simply wasn’t an option.
Taking a deep breath, I finally get out of the car and walk up the path to the house.
Gemina opens the door. She’s wearing dark blue jeans with knee-high heeled boots, along with a loose, red wool sweater. Her long blond hair falls in waves over her shoulders. She looks like she’s ready to go out, but then she always looks like that.
“Gemina.”
“Tristan. I’m glad you came.” She smiles but her eyes look red as if she’s been crying.
“Is he here?” I ask curtly.
She shakes her head.
“Dad!”
I manage to crouch just in time as my son bursts through from the kitchen, a huge grin splitting his face. He throws himself into my arms. Once again, I feel the familiar jolt of pain at how much Daniel looks like his mother and nothing like me. Not that it altered how much I loved him. Not in the slightest. ‘Daniel, Mummy needs you to go upstairs and play while she and Daddy talk.”
“Only if I’m allowed a coffee.” He pouts. “Mummy said I can’t have coffee.”
I look at him bewildered. “Why do you want coffee? You can have one tea on a special occasion. You know this.” And if he thinks he’s consuming anything without my consent for the next ten years, he’s got another think coming.
“I’m not a baby,” he growls. “Can’t you come up to my room and play for a while?”
“Not right now, buddy,” I reluctantly tell him. I put my hands on my son’s shoulders to look him in the face. ‘Mummy and I need to have a boring grown-up talk. I promise I’ll be up to play as soon as we’re done, okay? Then we both can have some frothy milk instead of coffee.’
“You promise?”
“You bet. Why don’t you go up and pick out what you want to play?’
“Okay!” Mollified, Daniel turns and runs up the stairs. I watch my son—and he is still my son, whatever any DNA test said—only turning back to my ex-wife once Daniel is out of sight.
“Can I get you a drink? Tea? Coffee? Scotch?”
“I’m fine.”
“Come on.’ She leads me into the kitchen. ‘You drove all the way here. I have your favourite Scotch ready.”
“George drove all the way here. Fine. Scotch then. With—”
“Two ice cubes.” She smiles sadly. ‘You think I don’t remember?’ Her hand brushes across the top of mine as I take a seat beside the kitchen island.
“What’s the proposal, Gemina?” My nerves are shot.
Her back is turned to me. She says nothing for a moment as she pours. Slow deliberate movements. Finally, she turns to look directly at me, her eyes filled with tears.
“Hey,” I close the distance between us and take her shoulders gently. “Daniel’s fine, Gemina.”
She lets out a loud sob and clutches my bicep. “Tristan. I’ve really fucked up. I’ve ruined everything. I’m so unhappy. Matias…I’m sorry, h-he’s the biggest mistake of my life.”
I flinch.
Matias.
The man I introduced her to. The man I invited into my home to help her career.
The man she had an affair with for four years. Four years.
He mentored my wife and fathered my child.
He stole my fucking life.
Her features contort with pain. “These past few weeks, I’ve realised…”
I stiffen. “What?”
“I want you, Tristan. I want you.”
I stare at her, speechless.
“I mean it.” She clutches my forearm. “I love you. I realise I did some stupid things, and that I hurt you, but I want to try again. I miss you. I want us to be a real family again. You, me and Daniel.”
“A family?”
“Yes. A family. A real one this time. I didn’t realise before how much I took it all for granted. I was stupid. Daniel needs you, his real father. And I need you too.”
I say nothing. Get back together with Gemina? Pretend the last two years never happened? I let out a bitter laugh. ‘I fell for that once before and look where it got me.”
“I know, and I’m sorry…”
‘Being a happy family didn’t mean anything to you before.”
‘Yes, it did,’ she insists, “You were always preoccupied with the firm. You worked late every night. I never got to see you. You stopped going to see my shows. I thought you fell out of love with me.”
“I didn’t.” I swallow, slumping on the bar stool. “Not then.”
I stare at her, bewildered. Sitting on the bar stool I’m eye level with her. More than anything, I want to laugh in her face. The idea of taking her back was ludicrous.
But to be a family again? To have Daniel back in my life fulltime?
“Daniel and I can move back into the townhouse where we belong.” She’s going in for the kill now. “You designed that place for us. For us to be a family there.”
The thought of waking up to Daniel every day was priceless. Even if he was a little bastard in the mornings.
“Matias wants your name removed from the birth certificate.”
I freeze. Is she blackmailing me?
‘We could do it. I love you, Tristan. I may not have shown it well enough, but I see now how much I miss you.’ Her lips curl into that beautiful smile I had always found irresistible.
As her eyes lock on mine, she pulls her sweater over her head. Underneath, she’s wearing nothing but a deep-red bra. I can see right through to her nipples. Damn. The colour suits her pale skin perfectly, and it lifts her full breasts in just the right way. I recognise it. I remember buying it for her and fucking her repeatedly the first night she wore that lingerie set. She had to remember it was my favourite. Was she wearing the rest of it beneath those jeans?
I feel my body responding without my permission. We both know she had always been able to bewitch me without even trying. And it wasn’t like she wasn’t still just as attractive as ever. It had always been part of her allure. Part of what made her the perfect wife. I’d revelled in being able to parade her on my arm. I would show her off at company gatherings and parties. Then later, when we were alone, we would discuss the way other women had glared at her, and other men had stared at her. It had turned us both on, knowing how much other people wanted her.
I was a fool.
I know exactly what she’s doing. Perhaps she does want to reconcile, but I know now when she’s manipulating me. She wants to make me unable to see past the promise of what would happen if I gave her what she wanted.
She steps forward. “I need you, Tristan,” she whispers, reaching up to slide a hand around the back of my neck and pull my face to hers.
Maybe it’s the alcohol but I feel my hands sliding around her waist without realising I had put them there. She grips my hair, and I don’t stop her when she steps between my legs to press her body up to mine. My hands slide up her body, feeling the firm, soft skin. The feel of her, the smell of her, brought memories flooding back. Holidays spent never leaving the hotel suite. Times she had visited me working late in the office to slip under my desk to distract me. Getting home from the office to find her in a new lingerie set, begging for me to take her. How good she had made me feel over and over again.
She looks at me innocent and sweet, like she has the power to wipe out history. “We can be together,” she whispers, grinding herself against me. “You can have me whenever and wherever you want.”
I stare down at the woman I had loved for over a decade, my brain misfiring.
I want her to make everything right again.
